Authorities Arrest First Suspect in Shooting of MP in Casablanca

The judicial police arrested the first suspect in the shooting of parliamentarian Abdellatif Merdas in his car in front of his house in Casablanca on Tuesday.

Police seized in the house of the suspect two rifles and 12mm bullets, the same types that were used to kill Merdas, a member of the liberal Constitutional Union Party (UC).

The Moroccan police said in a statement that the arrested individual is a 27-year-old with a criminal record who has previously made threats to Merdas concerning a “private dispute.”

Local news websites showed photos of the crime scene including the broken windows of Merdas’s car.

Merdas was hit by three bullets at 22:00 in his car in a Casablanca neighborhood. He succumbed to his injuries on the way to hospital as one of the bullets hit him in the head. According to testimonies, he was attacked by a person on board a small car using a hunting rifle.

The deceased, 53, was a UC deputy, representing the Ben Ahmed district, 60 kM south of Casablanca. He left behind a wife and three children.